Channel Frederator Launches New ‘Freddies’ Awards

If you thought user-submitted podcast toons were getting short-changed during the bountiful awards season, Fred Seibert and his talented team at Channel Frederator have just the thing for you. On January 24, 2007, Channel Frederator will launch the first annual Freddies ceremony at Cinespace in Hollywood, Calif. Honoring the ‘best of user-submitted cartoons,’ as seen on Channel Frederator’s weekly podcasts (Nov. 1, 2005 thru Oct. 31, 2006), the awards will be handed out in a wide range of categories from ‘Cartoon of the Year’ to ‘Cartoon Most Likely to be Censored by the FCC.’

The Freddie Award itself is an eight-inch replica of Joe Robot, Channel Frederator’s familiar metallic icon. Overall, 11 awards will be voted on by the Channel Frederator viewers and five will be jury selected. January’s event is the first to honor the films and filmmakers in the growing user-submitted podcast arena. According to the company, the event expects to draw more than 500 animation and online professionals. The ceremony will be videotaped for a podcast presentation available through ChannelFrederator.com and iTunes.

Since its November 1, 2005 launch, Channel Frederator has received more than 1000 submissions and showcased more than 175 animated films and the network has been downloaded more than 5,000,000 times. Cartoons include narrative and experimental shorts, along with music videos, promotional spots, and contemporary and vintage commercials. They range from million-dollar computer generated shorts to the simplest forms of independent animation.

Channel Frederator, the first ever weekly cartoon podcast, was imagined and created by Frederator Studios’ Fred Seibert and David Karp, founder of web application developer Davidville. Under the leadership of toon visionary Seibert, Channel Frederator is produced by Frederator Studios (www.frederator.kz), which has created original cartoons since 1998. Productions include Nickelodeon’s major hits The Fairly Oddparents, ChalkZone and My Life as a Teenage Robot. Seibert’s toon pilot labs Oh Yeah! Cartoons and Random! Cartoons have resulted in 186 shorts, eight series and development of five feature films.

Channel Frederator offers episodes of user submitted cartoons weekly on the Net. The network has been consistently featured as one of the top offerings in Apple’s iTunes stores and is consistently honored by their viewers as ‘the best of the best.’

Here is a complete list of the inaugural Freddie Award nominees:

Best Flash Film

The Ballad of Sheep 13- submitted by Kyle McQueen

I Like Pandas- submitted by Jessica Borutski

War Photographer- submitted by Joel Trussell

Best Foreign Film

The Ballad of Sheep 13- submitted by Kyle McQueen

Le Building- submitted by Olivier Staphylas

Maldito Verano- submitted by Renato Caiuby

Best Music Video

Joy Comes in the Morning- submitted by Scott Friedman (music by Xploding Plastix)